The Best Rhode Island Restaurants

We’re beyond excited to share our first official traveling food guide with you all. Warning: we’re going to be talking about the best Rhode Island restaurants today so you may start drooling mid-read. No judgement if you do though because we’re going to be right there with you, like we’re seriously salivating just thinking about their food.

Brunching at The District.

We started our trip off right with a delicious meal at The District, an adorable restaurant located in the heart of Providence. We ordered a trio of brunch items to share – a “basic” breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and toast, Chicken and Waffles, and Shrimp and Grits – and everything from presentation to flavor was on point. All three plates were delicious, but their Shrimp and Grits was the definite standout. Who knew grits could taste so damn good? The dish came with perfectly cooked jumbo shrimp, flavorful sausage, buttery eggs, home fries, onions and red peppers.

Homemade ice cream at Three Sisters.

If you’re looking for something sweet, head on over to Three Sisters for homemade ice cream. It literally took us 10+ minutes to figure out what we wanted to get because everything sounded so amazing. After much deliberation (and yes, we mean serious deliberation because ice cream is serious business), we settled on Green Tea, Cookies & Mint, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Although all of the aforementioned flavors were nomtastic, mint chip was definitely the best. We were beyond impressed with its creaminess, and the ice cream to cookie ratio was on point! For those of you interested, they also serve breakfast and lunch.

Legit South American food in Rhode Island.

Rhode Islanders don’t mess around when it comes to food, and apparently that includes Peruvian and Bolivian cuisine. We arrived at Los Andes at around 5 on a Sunday and there was already a long wait…that’s saying a lot because this place was massive! The interior wasn’t particularly impressive (with the exception of their outdoor patio area, which was very pretty) so we knew the food was going to be spectacular.

We chowed on piping hot bread while waiting for our wonderful waitress to come take our order. Everything sounded delicious, but we ultimately decided to go with the Paella ($17.95) and Parrilada Andina ($42.95, serves 2). We waited a good 40-50 minutes for our food, but that was to be expected since it was made to order. The Paella came with chorizo, strips of chicken breast, squid, mussels, little neck clams, shrimp, and english peas and was sautéed in a garlic butter-wine broth and then simmered in saffron rice. The latter came with angus ribeye, short beef ribs, aji panca marinated boneless chicken thigh, homemade chorizo criollo, fried yucca, ensalada rusa (magical beet salad), and mashed taters (you can get cheesy rice or white rice instead if you so please).

Nomsters, it was SO worth the wait! Everything was to-die-for yummy, with the exception of the homemade chorizo. That was the only thing we didn’t love. The texture was questionable, and the meat just kept falling apart, and not in a good way. We really enjoyed the chorizo in the paella though. And the ensalada rusa? We have no idea what all was in it, but it complemented the protein beautifully. The chimichurri verde was a great tough as well! Note: remember to also ask for a side of their housemade hot sauce to add some fire to your meal.

Healthy-ish food at Cru Cafe.

We wanted to hit up the ocean while we were in RI so we headed to Easton’s Beach, which was about 50 minutes away. We were hangry by the time we got to Newport so we started our day off with a scrumptious meal at Cru Cafe. We went with the grown up grilled cheese ($6.95), the Madeira Mushroom Melt ($7.75), the Straight from PULSE salad ($8.95), fancy tots ($3.50 for a small), maple scone, and handmade peach & berry mini-pie.

The grilled cheese was a double decker with three cheeses, thick slabs of applewood smoked bacon, and juicy slices of tomato. The mushroom sandwich came with portobellos, sauerkraut, gruyere + fontina cheeses, and roasted garlic aioli on their signature baguette. Their salad featured organic spinach, tomato, bits of goat cheese, avocado, zucchini, portobello mushrooms, and roasted peppers over artisan greens dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. The tots were all sorts of heavenly with bits of bacon and melted cheese. The only thing that didn’t impress was the scone! We could’ve done without that pastry, but hey, 5/6 is NOT bad. The mini-pie was stupid good though, and the outdoor eating area was definitely instagram-friendly. We loved seeing the chefs walk out and pick herbs from their garden – talk about fresh!

Fresh seafood takes on a whole new meaning at Anthony’s.

Anthony’s Seafood doesn’t look like much from the outside (…or the inside for that matter), but don’t be fooled, the food here is straight up ridiculous. We definitely see why Guy Fieri chose to feature them on “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.” So, here’s how it works – you stand in line to place your order and once you pay, their waitstaff seats you. We got a variety of different plates and shared everything as per usual: New England Clam Chowder ($3.25 for a cup, $5.50 for a bowl), Kung Pao Calamari ($9.95), Oysters on the 1/2 shell (market price), Lobster Roll, 2lb Lobster Dinner, and 1/2lb Chicken Tenders ($5).

We honestly don’t even know where to begin. We were served the chowder to start, and it was literally the best soup we’d ever tasted. We didn’t think we could enjoy anything more, but that all changed when they brought us their Kung Pao Calamari, which was incredible…like we-still-dream-about-it incredible! It’s definitely one of the most memorable plates we’ve ever had, and that’s saying a LOT because we’ve had some damn good food in our lifetime. It had perfectly fried squid rings with hot peppers, plum chili sauce, peanuts and scallions.

The oysters were fresher than fresh, the roll was stuffed to the rim with succulent lobster meat, and the lobster platter came with boiled potatoes and a buttery ear of corn. Literally everything we got hit the spot, including their chicken fingers (surprising enough). Who knew a seafood place could do chicken so well! We’ve honestly never had better, and their honey mustard + BBQ sauce was legit. The entire dinner came out to be around $80 or so which was very reasonable. The only problem with Anthony’s? They haven’t expanded to the DMV or the bay area.

Alright nomsters, that’s it for today! What did you think of the different dishes we featured – does anything stick out in particular? And out of curiousity, how many of you have been to RI? If you’ve visited, comment below with your favorite place/s so we can check them out the next time ’round. Thanks for reading our article on the best Rhode Island restaurants – we hope you found it helpful…AND delicious.